Your Input is Needed:

As always JealousBrother users are the most important asset to our website and we truly value your opinion. After receiving some suggestions from a couple of users on some potential changes to the way rivalry comments are displayed we decided to put it up for a vote and discussion over on the main site.

Here are some of the questions you might ask yourself when considering whether or not we need to make some changes to the rivalry comments layout.

1.)Do you find the discussions easy to follow and contribute to?2.)Do you like the order in which the comments are displayed? (Example: Oldest to Newest)3.)Do you like being able to see all of the replies to comments regardless of the number of replies?4.)Would you like to see any changes made to the way rivalry comments are currently displayed?
Of course these are just a few examples. We welcome any input and look forward to hearing what you think!

You can find the rivalry and discussion over at the main site by clicking on the image below:

Shortly after purchasing my Droid Bionic 4G LTE smart phone I was blown away by the results of my data transfer rates on bandwidthplace.com. Depending on my location I was getting speeds between 3Mbps to 32Mbps and no, I’m not joking. This along with the mobile hotspot capabilities of the Droid Bionic is what peaked my interest in finding a way to get a Verizon 4G LTE signal at home which has been a problem since we switched from At&t to big red a couple of years ago.

Our neighborhood apparently is in a Verizon black hole where the force is so strong that no reception can penetrate through. Well, that’s not entirely true, we get a signal but it’s random and jumps from network to network (1x, 3g, 4G LTE occasionally on one side of the house) every few seconds. Bear in mind that the signal we received was never enough to make a call or transfer data. Up until I decided to ditch my home internet and setup a home network using my Bionic we had been using a Verizon (Samsung branded) network extender which worked great for phone calls but required a high speed internet connection and did not function well with data functions like text messages.

Okay, enough with the back story lets get to the meat of what this article is about; Wilson Electronics (WE) 4G LTE signal Booster and the accompanying WE antennas. Considering that I am a rather cheap individual I was not willing to pay retail for a WE all in one kit ($700+) so I decided to piece the system together using several sources which I’ll detail below.

The Review:

The question on your mind is likely, Does it work? YES! Let me start by saying that I went from sporadic signals that lasted no more than 5 seconds to a consistent 4G LTE signal that floats between -82 and -95 depending on the tower I’m receiving the signal from. This provides roughly 4Mbs to 12 Mbs download speeds and upload speeds between 1 ½ Mbs to 5 Mbs. However, your situation may vary for a number of reasons. Careful research and thought must be conducted prior to making the investment. To give the primary and very general requirement for success with WE signal booster here’s what the technical support staff at WE told me, if you can attain a signal from the carrier then this system will work for you. Meaning, if you can lock onto a signal from the carrier even for a brief moment or two this system will likely help you attain a solid and consistent signal. I’m not saying you’ll be sitting with a -65db signal but if you’re situation is similar to mine you could see signals ranging from -82db to -94db depending on several factors; like distance to the tower, broadcast power of the tower, etc…

Modes:

A1SG offers two modes of use “Easy Mode” and what I’ll call “Super Advance Mode”. While easy mode may be ideal for smaller websites with excellent url structures it’s not suitable for larger websites or those with structuring issues. I won’t be covering “Easy Mode” in much detail as none of my websites were a suitable choice for crawling in this mode. With that considered it is certainly possible that there are plenty of well structured websites that could very much benefit from the “Easy Mode”.

Before I come off too negative let me open the door to what I’ll refer to as “Super Advanced Mode”. To say the advance mode gives you amazing control over your sitemap analysis and output would be the understatement of the century. I’ve been working with the software for well over two months now and I’ve likely only evaluated 55% – 65% of the options available in this software. Extensive options come with an elevated learning curve which Thomas told me was a trade off he’s willing to make.

User Interface:

A1SG is very powerful but it is also a bit confusing. The large number of features take it’s toll on ease of use which includes attempting to figure out what all of the different filters do and what the appropriate syntax is to make them spring to life. To counter the confusion A1SG offers numerous mouse over tips and a very extensive online help section for all of the different features to help explain the use and sytnax which is a neccessity for people like me who refuse to dive into manuals.

To give an example of how extensive the option sets are I’ll list the tabs for scanning a website; Paths, Scan Progress, Crawler Options, Crawler Engine, Crawler Identification, Webmaster Filters, Analysis Filters, Output Filters, and Data Collection. Each one of these tabs has numerous options for the end user to choose from which while very usefull features this does make it a little more challenging to operate but then again it is “Advanced Mode”.Read the rest of this entry »

It’s a bit difficult to say just how crucial sitemaps are in search engine algorithms and how much of an increase of indexed pages and crawl rate, if any, you’ll receive by uploading and pinging an xml sitemap to the major players. (Google, Yahoo, Bing) What is definite is that it can’t hurt your site unless it’s done completely wrong (formatting), you delist too many url’s, or you leave too many urls on the list.

Before jumping into the comparative review of SiteMapper and Sitemap Creator I want to give a layman’s term definition to what a sitemap is and what it may or may not do for your website or blog. It is indeed a map but it’s more than that; a good way to explain it would be to say it’s a hybrid map, more like a GPS (Unit that gives directions) set to the shortest and most efficient distance. Let’s say you have a ton of irrelevant or duplicate content urls on your site, to add to the analogy above, these urls could be considered freeway traffic or ice cream stores; things you want to avoid when traveling because it eats up your time.

Let’s think of search engine bots(Those that crawl your website) as impatient kids in the back seat of the family’s station wagon (Does anyone actually still own a station wagon?) on a long family road trip across the country (Country=Your Website). Now wouldn’t it make sense for your GPS (Sitemap) to get you to your destination as quick and efficient as possible so you don’t lose your mind? Yes it would. While a Sitemap is considered to be a suggestion to the search engines I’d be inclined to think they take them fairly seriously, especially when it’s well formatted and the most useful content of your website is added to it. The beautiful thing about sitemaps is that unlike your gps unit on the road trip you can actually remove traffic/obstacles in the road instead of just attempting to avoid them (Suggestively that is because it is up to the search engine on whether it follows the Sitemap path).

There are two types of sitemaps, html and xml. Html is primarily for the benefit of your website visitors while xml (xml’s can be zipped and indexed) is purely for the use of search engine bots. (There are evil bots too)
Now that we have a basic understanding of the sitemaps let look at two pieces of software I purchased and used within the last three weeks.

UPDATE: Before leaving this post please read the update at the end of this review for some updated information regarding the SiteMapper program. This greatly alters the opinion I previously had of this program but doesn’t modify my opinions on InSpyders product.

CoffeeCup SiteMapper was the first program I purchased and at just $29.00 ($26.10 with coupon code: 226STS) it was definitely an easy choice to make the investment. Visually speaking SiteMapper is a beautiful piece of software; functionality wise was a completely different story. It comes packed with a lot of convenient features such as scheduling to automatically update and ping the search engines, built in preview of the sitemap, and of course the ability to create both html and xml sitemaps.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to test the scheduling and pinging features of this program because after five days of attempting to crawl a website I finally gave up. The crawl would start out fine but before too long the software would lock up forcing me to open the task manager to shut it down(I read similar complaints of this on their Support Forum). Now before you think this was computer related, I installed SiteMapper on my desktop and two laptops just to be certain. (All running Vista Home Premium so there is a small chance it was OS related but not likely)

We’ve added some exciting new features to JealousBrother.com
Don’t forget to become a Facebook fan and to follow us on Twitter. (Links are on the right) Staying involved in the energetic debates just got a whole lot easier. Here’s some of the great new features we’ve added to the site.

Profile Notification System: Your profile has received a very cool notification system. Look for the “Recent Activity” link on your profile. This cool new feature will inform you whenever someone leaves a comment on rivalries you started, replies to one of your comments left on a rivalry, and when a new shout has been left on your profile. This feature takes the guesswork out of figuring out who’s interacting with who.

Email Notification System: The new email notification system will promptly notify you whenever you receive a JealousBrother private message, a new shout on your profiles wall, or a new reply to one of your comments. As always, JealousBrother respects your privacy and you can turn email updates off at any time by navigating to “Edit Profile” section of your profile.Read the rest of this entry »

If you were to ask my wife if I was a sensitive guy her answer would be a resounding no. In fact aside from a few (several) bad habits I would have to say my lack of sensitivity is one of my character traits that could use some fine tuning. With all of that being said there are a few things that scavenge up some raw emotions. For one, believe it or not I’m a total sap when it comes to chick flicks. Who would have guessed it? Secondly and quite frankly the reason I’m writing this article is my absolute love and affection for animals. Sure I prefer dogs to cats but I have always had special kind of love for animals.

After looking back at a rivalry I started several months ago I decided to raise the same question again, only this time on the JealousBrother blog. As I was working one day in a small town in East Tennessee I noticed a stray dog ravaging the Food Lion (grocery store) parking lot for food. The idea for the rivalry that follows was instantly spurred from my very brief interaction with this poor dog. Every time I see a stray I tend to ask myself multiple questions. Where’s this pets owners? Did they abandon him/her? Should I call the shelter? Will this poor animal end up dead on the side of a road? You get the point.Who do you have more compassion for, Homeless People or Homeless Animals?

I’ve bumped into a couple of different conversations with people on this very topic and the discussions usually hit altering points of view. The topic I’m referring to is whether you have more compassion/sympathy for a homeless pet or a homeless person. Before you start calling me names and telling me how bad of a person I am I would appreciate at least a minute to explain my point of view.Read the rest of this entry »

The Boss wrote on: 2/11/17 @ 9:43 AM
This is where I tend to part ways with the Libertarians which I tend to align with on many issues. We have every right to control access to our nation and I have no issue with the wall being built. With the human trafficking and drug smuggling alone a wall makes sense. Yes it's a big broad border but a wall is LONG over due. ... Posted in: Open Border - No Fence or Wall vs. Build the Wall on US - Mexico Border - (0 Responses)

The Boss wrote on: 9/8/16 @ 2:50 PM
So PS4 Pro was just announced and it does not have a UHD blu-ray drive. That is a deal breaker for me. Even the Xbox ONE S has a UHD drive. What a horrendous decision by Sony. I initially chose a PS3 over the XBOX 360 due to the blu-ray drive and it looks like Sony is pushing me back into the arms of Microsoft. FAIL Sony!!!! ... Posted in: Sony Playstation Neo - 4.5k vs. Microsoft Xbox Scorpio - (0 Responses)